Snippets
by Memphis Lupine
Summary: [Drabble: 100-word story] Tales of love in a quick read. Four new: Hao introspective, Lyserg x Ryu, Yoh x Anna, and a Mosuke introspective. Thanks to reviewers!
1. Cold Moments

Cold Moments  
  
----  
  
----  
  
He knew the man stood behind him, had known for a while yet.   
  
"It's cold," the younger said quietly. The lake shivered in the brittle winter frost.   
  
"Well, whadda you expect, with this weather?" the taller one asked humorously, and he slouched over slightly, grinning his mean-kind smile. "Here."  
  
The white coat dropped on the young man's head, covering pale hair with the warm folds. Eyes a bit wide, he accepted the gift with a soft, "Thank you."  
  
"No problem," shrugged the man, still gentle-smirking. "What else could I do for you?"  
  
The small one smiled, sadly. "You're very kind…" 


	2. A Somewhat Romantic Interlude

A Somewhat Romantic Interlude  
  
----  
  
----  
  
"Yes!" shouted the blue-haired one, with the smug triumph of the man who has beaten the odds. "Victory is near!"  
  
His companion, dark hair done up in its elaborate needle style, scowled. "The hell are you doing?" he demanded harshly.  
  
Horohoro leaned back on the sagging couch, grinning widely as his slanted eyes peered at the Chinese shaman. "Watchin' t.v. Duh."  
  
Ren snorted eloquently.  
  
"Well, you don't have any bright ideas," Horohoro jeered. "Unless, y'know..."  
  
Ren shifted the corner of his newspaper aside. "F-ck off," he said coldly.  
  
"Asshole," Horohoro replied, sticking his tongue out and returning to the t.v. 


	3. Kissing Face

Kissing Face  
  
----  
  
----  
  
"Tamao!" the shout came, exasperated. "What the hell are you doing that's taking so long?"  
  
The girl swept a hand quickly through her pink hair, looking about for anything left behind. She sighed privately at another shout.  
  
"Don't be upset," she called out, gathering her suitcase. "I'm coming!"  
  
"Well, really, it wouldn't have killed you to be faster about it," her lover said grumpily. "Come on, let's get the cab loaded to visit the temple before we leave."  
  
Tamao kissed the other's cheek, shyly. "But...are you sure about this?"  
  
Pirika smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?" And she returned the kiss. 


	4. Glade Pact

Glade Pact  
  
----  
  
----  
  
She stepped silently into the dark meadow, lit by moonlight and cast in shadow. One slender foot kept in the forest and the other waiting in the brush of the grass, she spied him.  
  
"You're late, Yoh," she said sharply, amber eyes narrowing.   
  
He smiled sheepishly where he sat cross-legged in the grass. "Eh, traffic," he shrugged charmingly.   
  
Anna raised an eyebrow, dark gold hair swaying along her pale shoulders. "Do you know why I asked you here?"  
  
Yoh gave her the closest to a contrite look that he dared. "No."  
  
She smiled and knelt, sweeping her lips over his. 


	5. Thimble

Thimble  
  
----  
  
----  
  
"I have waited long for today," the Maiden spoke quietly. The light of the outside world rimmed her ethereal hair, a ghostly halo.  
  
He grinned in the dark, small holding cell, black mirth in his eyes. "How cruel of you, darling."  
  
She flinched, nearly retreating. "I have told you not to call me that."  
  
"Don't you remember?" His voice grew sing-song. "How we played, and touched, and loved...you were so very attentive."  
  
"I am your captor," she continued, ignoring him though she paled.  
  
"And I am your slave," he smiled cruelly, before whispering, "Or is it the other way about?" 


	6. Shame

Shame  
  
----  
  
----  
  
She pulled back, uttering a single "ah" as her abdomen clenched, drawing herself tight and up in a last blow. Shame burned at the edge of her consciousness, pushed bluntly aside by desire, and she murmured again before her body fell into relaxation.  
  
Hao chuckled into her ear, darkly amused and rough with his own physical emotion; he licked her neck, oddly gentle, as she hummed softly for a second or two.  
  
"Pleasing?" he asked, murmuring as he brushed his hand over her breast.  
  
"Yes," she smiled, absently, "though you're still a bastard."  
  
"Shame, shame," he clucked, and shifted fluidly. 


	7. Simplicity

Simplicity  
  
----  
  
----  
  
In his memory it is the eve of a thunder storm, and they are together, hiding from the rain.  
  
Soft and yielding, and she makes an amused happy noise, earning a smile from him before she draws his mouth up from her skin to her lips. "And why do you wait?" she asks, humored, before gently creeping her fingernails down the back of his shirt.  
  
He smiles shyly into the kiss, stroking his palm down the slender curve of her belly and hovering there, content at the living warmth brushing his fingers.  
  
Each desperate memory of that warmth is agony. 


	8. Technology's Benefits

Technology's Benefits  
  
----  
  
----  
  
The computers hummed, a low pitch as screens flickered.  
  
"You're typing it wrong," Manta muttered, careful to keep the teacher from overhearing.  
  
Helplessly, Yoh jabbed his fingertip to one of the keys, droopily frustrated. "It doesn't make any sense," he whined.  
  
"Yes it does," was Manta's retort. "You're just a moron."  
  
Yoh sighed, deeply, and dropped his forehead to the keyboard. "Ow," he said after a moment's thought.  
  
The smaller one narrowed his eyes, exasperated. "Yoh," he started, irritated.  
  
The brunet turned his head to smile blearily. "Aw, y'know you love me," he chirped and, yawning, straightened up.  
  
Manta winced. 


	9. Marginally Attractive

Marginally Attractive  
  
----  
  
----  
  
"Have you looked at the clouds today?" He leaned closer to the train window, studying the slender streaks of white that cluttered the sky. "They're too thin to find shapes in them."  
  
Anna raised a honey-colored eyebrow skeptically, glancing coolly out the same glistening window. "They're merely clouds, Yoh; what difference does it make?"  
  
"Everything!" he defended, settling back and scowling as he absently retied his brown hair. "I mean, it's not as much fun if you can't point out weird shapes."  
  
"Nonetheless," Anna said, conceding as a few minutes passed, "they are somewhat pretty."  
  
Yoh started, and quietly grinned. 


	10. In All Honesty

In All Honesty  
  
----  
  
----  
  
The yakisobi noodles had edged towards the proper state of cooked; the tall chef tilted his head to the side and exhaled a quick stream of nicotine-smoke before replacing the cigarette.   
  
"Almost ready," he called in accented English. "Smells good no?"  
  
"You don't have to force yourself to speak English," Lyserg reminded, slipping around the kitchen door and wiping his hands on a towel.  
  
The chef grinned, tapping ash from his cigarette. "Have to learn sometime," he replied easily, half-smirking as he switched back to Japanese.  
  
"Of course," the man with pale hair smiled wryly, rewarded with a raucous wink. 


	11. Concentration

Concentration  
  
----  
  
----  
  
"Take a moment," she said, brushing her soft hand over his hair in absent encouragement. "Just concentrate."  
  
He wrinkled his slight nose, large, feminine eyes focusing on the crystal pendant as though to find the source of a riddle within. "But it doesn't make sense, Mum," he protested, finally, turning his slender face up to her.  
  
"It will," she insisted gently. "If you would just give yourself time to concentrate on the matter, everything would make sense."  
  
The boy hesitated, cupping it once in his small hand. "Everything?" he asked finally, dubious.  
  
She laughed quietly, rustling his hair. "Yes. Everything." 


	12. Saturday Rain

Saturday Rain  
  
----  
  
----  
  
Saturday was dark and wet, as promised by ominous thunder before he left to purchase their weekly foodstuffs. He had not been looking forward to Anna growling about an empty pantry: rain had seemed the lesser of evils.  
  
Now - soaked and exhausted, fearful that his arms would give - he doubted his wisdom.  
  
"Oh God," he muttered, stumbling toward the door.  
  
"You're puddling," a female voice announced from said door. Her voice sounded oddly nasal, and, his arms trembling beneath the bags, he looked at her.  
  
"You should lie down," he offered with a smile. "I'll get you some cold medicine." 


	13. Moonlight Waltz

Moonlight Waltz  
  
----  
  
----  
  
"I'm dancing circles," he says, once, when they are both small.  
  
"It's late," she whispers, resting her chin on her folded knees.   
  
He is gilded with silver, moonlight touching his dark hair, an unearthly beauty about her friend cast into sight by the muted white.  
  
"I know," he replies, peacefully, and continues swirling in the gauzy night-glow. He looks at her, silver and dark, and smiles. "You dance, too!"  
  
She tightens her fingers around her shins, feeling suddenly airy and weak; he is ethereal, in the shadows, and she knows he is beyond her.  
  
But when he smiles, she dances.  
  
----  
  
----  
  
(This and the preceding two drabbles were originally posted at phantomshaman, the lj drabble community for Shaman King.) 


	14. Cleansing

Cleansing  
  
----  
  
----  
  
I pity him his resolve in the goodness of humanity. Either by choice or a particular blindness, he does not see the parasitical foulness of men; by not seeing he cuts off his remaining senses.  
  
Perhaps it was arrogance, or foolishness, that led me to think he would have grown to recognize man's inherent weakness during the years of our separation. That instead he has faith in humanity is an overwhelming disappointment.  
  
He cannot understand what favor I will do for the world when I exterminate the human parasite. Man contaminates, and I will set the world ablaze to be rid of this contamination.  
  
I had hoped he would be alongside me, but I fear, now, he will perish in the flames.   
  
----  
  
----  
  
(122 words) 


	15. Fading

Fading  
  
----  
  
----  
  
I'm not afraid of death.   
  
I don't fear many things anymore, when I pause to think on it. The world is cold now: my actions are automated; my expressions are weak; my words are soft because I cannot feel strong emotion. When I do feel emotions, they seem dulled, as if they've been frozen since my parents died.  
  
The only emotion I still feel is hatred, strong, and powerful, and preserving. Hate is the only emotion I need to continue.   
  
But when he died, however briefly, when that large, noisy, rude Ryu died...  
  
How odd that I should grieve again. 


	16. Exist

Exist  
  
----  
  
----  
  
People have a remarkable tendency to complicate things far more than necessary. They dedicate countless hours in the quest of deciphering love and whether or not they might die without it.  
  
I love Yoh. It is no more complicated than that. Why should I waste time pining for him when he's gone? I can learn, and train, and grow stronger, just as he does when we are apart (and if he doesn't, he will).  
  
I don't weep for him; I don't need to. To falter or question myself is not within me to do. I exist. He exists. We exist. 


	17. Faith

Faith  
  
----  
  
----  
  
I wait for him, as I have for centuries. I have not lost my belief that he will come to save me from this purgatory that I have set myself within. Amidamaru will not abandon me, just as I would not abandon him.  
  
It has been lonely waiting, though: I cannot lie. I seem to have forgotten how lonely it was when our village had been made ash, when we did not know each other. I have seen horrible things with him by my side, and I can no longer remember how to be alone.  
  
This is why I wait.  
  
----  
  
----  
  
(This and the preceding three drabbles were originally posted at phantomshaman, the lj drabble community for Shaman King.) 


End file.
